The present invention relates generally to electrical connectors and in particular to electrical connectors that are mounted to a printed circuit board within an electronic device. A wide variety of electronic devices are available for consumers today. Many of these devices have connectors that that facilitate communication with and/or charging of a corresponding device. These connectors often interface with other connectors through cables that are used to connect devices to one another. Sometimes, connectors are used without a cable to directly connect the device to another device, such as a charging station or a sound system.
As smart-phones, media players and other electronic devices become more compact, a limiting factor on the size of a particular device may be the size of the printed circuit board (PCB) within the device. Typically, very compact electronic devices may only have one printed circuit board on which one or more connectors along with all the other electronic components and electrical routing are located. As an example, receptacle connectors are sometimes positioned on one or more of the side surfaces of portable media devices and are mounted to a printed circuit board within the device. In relatively small media devices, the receptacle connectors may consume a significant portion of the available space on the PCB, leaving little room for additional electrical routing and other electronic components.
Thus, new connectors may require new features and/or changes to commonly used connectors to be able to consume less space on a printed circuit board, leaving more space for other electrical components and electrical routing.